“When you read biographies of people who’ve done great work, it’s remarkable how much luck is involved. They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up. So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious. Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions.”

— Paul Graham, How to Do Great Work

Great read tbh. Lots of solid points, highly recommend.

But I picked this quote specifically, because it landed on something I’ve been chewing on lately.

What is luck? Who counts as a lucky person? Can you get more of it? Or is it just a hand you get dealt, and all you do is play it or fold?

The Recruiter Joke⌗

Like most of my thoughts, this one got triggered by a conversation. A coworker was telling us a joke about the job market. A recruiter takes a stack of resumes, splits it in two, throws one half in the trash, and says: “we don’t hire unlucky people.”

Everyone laughed.

???

I mean, yes, funny joke haha. But who says this doesn’t already happen?

Honestly, this is something I would do as a recruiter (thank god I’m not one). And I think a version of it happens all the time. In a stack of a thousand resumes, do you really think anyone reads every single one? Or do they stop the moment they find someone who fits the criteria?

If they stop, then the rest of that stack is in the trash. Those people never got read. They didn’t lose. They just weren’t seen.

I’m trying to be someone who takes ownership of his life. I refuse to let the universe push me around without a fight. So the question turns practical: what do I do to get luckier at getting hired?

I can’t control the other candidates (let’s keep this legal, shall we).

But I can put my resume on top of the pile. I can put more than one copy in. I can talk to the recruiter. I can get a referral, which skips the pile entirely.

None of that is cheating. It’s just showing up in more places.

Testing the Theory⌗

Before I decide this idea is any good, let’s test it somewhere else.

Finding money on the ground is lucky. That feels like something I can’t change the odds of.

Or can I?

Someone who is never outside will never find money outside. Someone who walks around looking up at the sky finds less than someone looking down. And someone who walks past supermarkets and ATMs, where people handle cash all day, is in better shape than someone walking through an empty field.

I’m no scientist and I don’t know the math. But it doesn’t feel like the odds are the same in these cases. Feel free to correct me if you think I’m wrong.

One more test. A guy meets Elon Musk in an elevator, pitches him an idea, walks out with funding. Damn lucky bastard.

Sure. But compare the odds of meeting Elon Musk if you live in Africa, or Europe, against if you live in the US. Or on the moon. Or wherever he is this week. Your address changed the odds before you did anything at all.

The formula⌗

Same pattern every time. There’s almost always a way to engineer your luck, and it comes down to two things: doing more, and doing better.

Doing more gets you into the room. Doing better makes you worth something once you’re in it.

This is why the universe rewards participation and not planning. An idiot in motion beats a genius at rest. The genius has better ideas. The idiot has more attempts.

Think about a coin. Flip it once and you’ve got a 50% chance of winning. Flip it a hundred times and any single flip is still 50% : the coin doesn’t care about you. But the odds of winning at least once go to basically 100%.

And in the scenarios that matter, at least once is all you need. One job. One meeting. One idea that lands.

So the plan isn’t to get lucky. The plan is to keep flipping.